WWE Raw Open Discussion Thread 4/2/12: The Beginning Of A New, Not Entirely Dissimilar Era

Tonight: the Hall of Fame highlights at 8:00 p.m. ET and then A BRAND NEW ERA FOR REAL Y’ALL.

No “official” preview blurb because WWE.com is laboring under the illusion that people know enough to point their Internet machine to “WWE.com” but don’t know who won any of the matches at WrestleMania 28. At any rate, it’s safe to assume we’ll get plenty of fallout from Team Johnny’s win, where both John Cena and the Rock go from here, whether Undertaker and/or Triple H have any plans to retire, and the possible announcement of a match for next year’s WrestleMania. Also, Brock Lesnar, Batista and Lita were all in Miami over the weekend (maybe), so we might get some Big Damn Surprises.

– Brandon will be returning soon and may pop up in the comments thread at some point, but I’ll be your host for the evening. Expect slightly less references to mascots and Destiny and slightly more references to the San Francisco Giants and Magic: the Gathering. Tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Raw will be by the immensely talented Chris Trew so make sure to check that out.

– Really hammer the comments, guys. I saw that Mania thread so I know you’ve got it in you to cause the server to hemorrhage with your jokes about Undertaker’s new haircut. Remember: the top 10 comments from tonight’s open discussion thread will be featured in tomorrow’s Best and Worst Of WWE Raw report. It’ll make you Internet famous, which is way better than being regular-famous, because you never have to wear pants.

– IMPORTANT: to nominate a comment for one of the top 10 of the night, be sure to reply with +1. If you +1 your own comments, that’s fine I guess, but everyone will know you’re sadly desperate.

Someone help me out here, I sorta caught WM and thought I caught all of Raw but where the heck did this Yes chant come from and why does it revolve around Daniel Bryan (who I certainly think was screwed over in his match)?

Yes! was DB’s catchphrase, and at WM it was ridiculously over (Did you see all those signs?!) only for it to be squashed. I guess everyone realised that was BS and kept it going to show that they knew that.

Yeah, ever since Daniel Bryan won the World Heavyweight Championship in December and turned heel shortly afterward he’s celebrated before and after every match (and some of AJ’s) with exaggerated, meant-to-be-annoying “YES!”s accompanied by thrusting his arms in the air with his index finger raised to signify he’s #1. It had gotten over with his fans somewhat before Wrestlemania, with people bringing “YES!” signs to Smackdown most weeks, but Wrestlemania was the biggest show of love for it. And then his match happened and people felt robbed so they took it up as a protest of sorts. “YES! YES!! YES!!”. It’s a beautiful thing.

I actually kind of feel bad for Cena. The crowd just shits on him as another returning guy comes in and F5’d Cena. I realize rise above hate is important, but c’mon. Even the most calmest of people snaps once in a while.

Anyone else a little disturbed with how the crowd cheered on Brian as he treated AJ like shit in the after the show clip?

The next time some troll rolls through here and admonishes us all for being cynical assholes who need to chill and enjoy something shitty, i want to point to tonights thread. We just enjoy GOOD wrestling better than you do.

As the Mister and I were discussing the crowd in Miami after RAW, he made a really good point (he does that sometimes.) The crowd wasn’t just people from Miami, it was people who had come from all over the country/world to WrestleMania and THAT’S why it was such a stellar, involved crowd. They were pumped (and a little bit pissed) and that’s what we got to see. It’s too bad VKM only wants giant stadiums for ‘Mania because I think there’s something to be said for a jam packed arena that is excited to be there. Imagine the YES YES YES echoing through the arena before the Match That Shall Not Be Named?

Of course, this is Miami. They can’t show up on time for Heat playoffs games and have had to give away free tickets to the World Series. I mean shit… its Wrestlemania and the stadium was three quarters full at 7pm. Those people suck.

So other than the crowd last night (because seriously that crowd was awesome. Si! Si! Si!) the thing that stuck with me the most was the Jericho/Punk stuff. Yes I’ve heard that it’s a redo of stuff Punk’s already done but it’s new to me. Also I Looooooooooove Jericho here he walks out, owns up to loosing at Wrestlemania uses it to further his own storyline, and then proceeds to lay into Punk about driving him to drink, but then he does my favorite thing of the night…..he added “sure I drink but never to excess and I never ever drink and drive.” Jericho stole the only argument that Punk had to come back with and now all he can be is all Grrrrrrrrrr Argggggghhhh angry poopy face. That’s great promo work right there.

so ive developed an internet relationship over the past 2 months, and im flying out to meet her this friday.
and im thinking… after 2 months of all talk (via satellite…), friday is essentially our wrestlemania- the big day when these two names FIIIIINALLY meet. as far as the sex goes, theres probably a good chance that it doesnt meet all the hype. i mean, with all these video packages over skype, weve really drained our talking points of lady parts and turning things sideways.
and if thats the case, im just going to rely on saturday being RAW, with several hours of constant YES! YES! YES!

As excited as I was for Lesnar’s return, a thought just occurred to me: What’s the actual difference between The Rock returning after turning his back on the company, and Lesnar returning after turning his back on the company? Why does The Rock get shit for it, but so many people are excited for Lesnar? I guess there are people in both camps in either situation, but it seems like there are people in, for example, even just our wrestling community here that didn’t like Rock’s return and still marked out for Lesnar last night. I admit I am one of those people. This isn’t a value judgement, I’m just curious is all. Thoughts?

i see how it can be interpreted that way, but what im saying that even though we didnt have brock lesnar in the squared circle, we still had brock lesnar in the octagon. he wasnt playing for our team anymore, but we still got to watch him play.

I’m pretty surprised that all is forgotten with Lesnar. I was never a big fan, and was under the impression that he could get people hurt. But I dunno, he was less high profile than the Rock, that might do it.

I would think it has a bit to do for their reasoning as well. Rock left when he decided he’d rather be a movie star. Brock’s reasoning for leaving was that he was sick of all the back stage politics and cliques, which is a bit more relatable to most people I guess.

I think the difference is that Lesnar left under kinda bad terms and said “I’m going to try and do this for real.” He didnt ride the fame train, though he did get a small bump in UFC for being who he was. I think , what makes it different for me, is that Lesnar didnt use his stardom from the WWE the way the Rock did. We made the Rock into what he was and we supported him and he ditched the WWE for more fame. Lesnar kinda just wanted to go out and do something real. I dunno. Its an odd difference and you’re wise to point it out.

I usually can go on with my life as normal on a Tuesday until around 3 when I start itching for B&W. Today I don’t want to do anything but read/watch stuff about last night. Someone in my office is getting an F5 today.

Hello, I’ve been coming here for months and have finally watched a Raw which bored me. In celebration, I’m joining up to hopefully contribute some awesomeness to the community.

Was hoping the Jericho thing wouldn’t be so on the nose. It would have been funnier if he was like “lol GTS is that named after what you’d have to do to your dad when he came home wasted out of his mind”

There’s a bunch of uploaded youtube videos, since I know they’re being posted here. I went to twitter, did a search for ‘daniel bryan’, and the top videos are all cell phone vids from afterwards. Just a little helpin’ hand, if anyone was still jonesin’.

I reply, but it takes me back to the top of the page. Once I reply, it goes to the post I am replying to once I refresh.

Thing is, I have to make sure the link doesn’t have ‘respond’ at the end, or I end up replying to the same goddamn post for about an hour, which I did. Some poor soul must think I have a boner for them right around the Funkasaurus arrival. Oh well. Hope it’s fixed by next week.

is there any chance that next weeks crowd botches it?
i mean… anyone who has any business being at next weeks raw, by all accounts should have watched the raw after wrestlemania. we have to assume that enough fans are jazzed up enough a week from now to at least attempt to recreate what just happened.

i know it probably wont be as nuts- because tonight almost certainly was the result of leftover WM fans attending the show.
but i think something special was born tonight. YES! is not only the new WHAT?!, but it could very well be the new WOO!

and with such a clear message of approval and disapproval for whats occurring, by gawd, i think the People Power era might be something way, way bigger than they could have imagined.

I have to admit, I have never been much of a D-Bry fan, or at least to the extent of the crowd on this site. I mean, he’s a good to very good wrestler, but, well…. I started watching WWE again whenever HHH assaulted Orton at his home (coincidence, I don’t have a thing for home invasions), but stopped watching for a time during the whole Nexus thing, and started watching again over a year ago. So, I don’t want to sound like a contrarian, nor do I really HATE anyone. You folks, and Brandon, and whoever else I have read have helped me come to the conclusion that if you aren’t enjoying what’s on, don’t watch. So, I just try to enjoy what the characters are doing, and take it for what it is, watch you guys crack wise, etc…

Anyway, Bryan has always been just there, I wasn’t really enamored with what he did on NXT, how he was used, etc. Recently, his heel turn kind of turned me off, and I started to focus more on the other feuds going on. But, seeing how his feud with Sheamus played out, and where he is going now, oh yeah, you know I’m jumpin’ on the bandwagon!

He’s a personality that the crowd can get behind even when he’s the heel. The Rock (90s-early 00s). Stone Cold. DX. The list goes on. Not that the crowd is always right, but it’s like Brandon has said about Cody Rhodes; you want to see him get smashed for being a jerk, but the way he goes about being a jerk is so great, you kind of don’t want him to get smashed. His rapport with AJ is consistent with his character, heel or not. Macho Man has been brought up in comparison, which definitely fits. It follows their characters, and above all, it works. Plus, he was getting decent matches out of Big Show for a while, which, looking back on it, is something. He doesn’t sell murder like DZ, but he wrestles how one might think a normal person would wrestle. Not over the top, but like a CM Punk, or Swagger. He puts on a good match not matter who else is in the ring. Combine that all, and Bryan is slowly becoming that main event staple kind of guy, and he is a guy that I don’t mind listening to, as well as watching him wrestle. A guy like the Rock (again, late 90s, early 00s). Yeah, he may not win EVERY match, but that’s the thing. He shows some vulnerability, so you are worried about the result, but it’s okay because you know he is going to do something fun and cool even if he loses and you will still like what he is doing regardless. Whereas, with Zack Ryder, it’s tough to pull for a guy just made of catchphrases (i.e. Poochie, the Talkin Dog). DB won over another fan who was on the fence for reminding me of childhood faves, especially for the literal LOLs had while watching the dark match video, and the fun that will be had following this Mania and RAW.

Also, Sheamus is getting some undeserved heat right now from people saying he screwed over Bryan and such nonsense (though I totally understand the crowd reaction). Naw, he’s still the same big ol’ white dude he always has been, just the beneficiary of a bizarre “match” result at the most expensive, and therefore biggest event. Plus, it’s not lucky to diss the Irish…

I love that the crowd spent the majority of the night chanting “We Want Lesnar” and then when he showed up they were so shocked they switched to “Holy Shit” chants. I’m certain that 80% of that audience now thinks they are magicians.

I’m watching RAW again. Noticing some of the little things I missed typing and reading all the comments here. EG: Ziggler yelling while he squashed Santino’s head with his foot. Ziggler selling the fuck out of another monkey flip at the end.

@FunkyWarmMedina (I can’t reply from my phone) I had a great time thanks dude… Last night was incredible, everything about it was great to witness. Including Dean Ambrose cutting a promo to start the night. Wrestlemania was a such a great experience even if the show was not as good as it could’ve been. Axxess was a lot of fun and you guys might get a treat from there in the coming days…

I met a bunch of really cool and super nice wrestling fans; a couple from Maryland that sat next to me at ‘Mania, the two guys that sat next to me last night that flew in from London for the weekend and some guy from Austin that runs a sports comedy blog whom I pal’d around with at Axxess. Great weekend!

I had to watch RAW about an hour delayed, so I couldn’t really follow the comments; I saw too many spoilers as it was. Good show overall, and I expected it to be terrible. But the one thing that registered most strongly with me was what a bunch of disrespectful shitheels the Miami fans are. They couldn’t treat Cena with any decency at all. Even wrestlers I hate, I would not boo them or heckle them when they were trying to be genuine. Fuck Miami and all the assholes who live there.

There is no limit to how many YES! YES! YES! T-shirts I will buy. My wife will divorce me for spending the money, but I will tell her to SHUT UP! and divorce her first for doubting Daniel Bryan. YES! YES! YES!